sometimes you never really find out what your worth or your boat is until the crap hits the fan...

I think that is the point. It would have been better to be somewhere you can seek cover rather then so far off shore. I think part of preparing to go offshore is acquiring the experience. How do you acquire that? By going through the paces near shore no matter how long it takes. This is especially the case if you are taking your toddler and baby. No matter how long you liveaboard with your family it is not the same, by a long shot, as cruising with your family.

How many people, when abandoning your boat in the Pacific, in (supposedly) nasty conditions, with a boat that (supposedly) had been knocked down, and (supposedly) was taking on water, with a (supposedly) sick infant who needs medical care, would.... grab a bottle of champagne to take in your ditch bag?

The idiocy of these folks is astounding. Not only in what they do, but in what they choose to share. Their priorities are skewed beyond any sense of reason. Apparently they are so self-centered they don't even realize how it sounds when they publish this lunacy to the world.

I think that is the point. It would have been better to be somewhere you can seek cover rather then so far off shore. I think part of preparing to go offshore is acquiring the experience. How do you acquire that? By going through the paces near shore no matter how long it takes. This is especially the case if you are taking your toddler and baby. No matter how long you liveaboard with your family it is not the same, by a long shot, as cruising with your family.

YES I agree completely...what Im trying and FAILING to point out is simply those rough offshore conditions cant be duplicated near shore...where they were at and leaving from..and you cant prepare no matter what...because they are not the same....

going through the paces is different than experiencing tropical deprression or typhoons mid ocean...so how can one say you must do that first then go offhshore?

only thing I can think if is they should of crewed on other peoples boats more, offhsore...together maybe before heading out into the deep blue sea

other than that it just wont happen

I also pointed out before that most cruisers in mexico and central america simply will never experience any sort of out there rough tests to boat and crew...in fact most guys get a little whooped in panama and say wtf?

I completely agree that this generation(and Im part if it however dont partake so much in it) is completyely self involved, living out a reality tv show and all about me me me, with blogs and twitter accounts much ado about nothing, yet so embellished with funny quips and facts and whatever...I dont see where grabbing that last thing and the other is intertwined

now we are just arguing for arguments sake

in most tales of last moment ditch bag or grabbing stuff as the boat goes down, in movies in books etc..there are countless tales of the captain or crew grabbing that one special item be it a mug or captains compass or simply your passport or some personal cherised belonging before stepping off...

read it many times...so why is this all of a sudden off limits

people criticise too much then often will be surprised when they find themselves doing the same thing in similiar situations...

the human mind cant be dissected so well in that you can definitively say I would never do that no matter what

its an impossibility...

anywhoo

dont know why I keep coming back to this thread...its like my el dorado! jjaja

going through the paces is different than experiencing tropical deprression or typhoons mid ocean...so how can one say you must do that first then go offhshore?

I say this because they are taking their children with them offshore so more rigorous metrics should apply. If it was just the adults then I wouldn't be to fussed. Though in the end they made the decision to go off shore with minimal experience in a boat known to have issues.

Quote:

only thing I can think if is they should of crewed on other peoples boats more, offhsore...together maybe before heading out into the deep blue sea

I think that would have helped especially for the mother who appears not to have had too much experience.

My point is this: A shakedown cruise by definition tests the ship and its various systems for problems and deficiencies. How did they get to Mexico? How long had they been coastal cruising? How much work on that boat did Eric do himself? I think much of the stuff being said here is based on what can be read in a blog. A blog! Since they did not blog about a shakedown does that mean they didn't do one? Do you really think that someone who finds corroded pins in his chainplates and then wisely replaces the chainplates themselves while he's overhauling the rig wouldn't find other problems while coastal cruising? Come on! Sure, maybe they didn't push the boat as hard as any one of you or even myself would but I wouldn't just ignore a few years of coastal cruising and working on the boat and systems as useless. I would wager that's more than many sailors do. I would also think that by the time they left, Eric had a pretty good idea of how the boat handles. Again, maybe he practiced heaving to or deploying a drogue and just didn't write about it. I'm willing to give the guy a benefit of a doubt.

And can somebody tell me how you can spend that much time on a boat with a wife and 2 kids and NOT know the missus ain't happy? Yes, I think they made mistakes. Their choice of blog subjects may be a little.... unconventional but that has nothing to do with what happened. And after all, they did have quite a bit of time to pack what was precious to them before they scuttled. It's not as if they had to swim out on her way down.

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